I think our problem (not being a legit playoff contending team) is the lack of depth, to state the obvious. This team can put some games together, but can't seem to sustain it.

Too many things have to go right, for this team to win games. Flawless execution, take few penalties (and kill 90% of the ones you do take), force the opposition into taking penalties (and capitalize on over 25% of them), get outstanding goaltending, limit teams to only a few quality chances, play an in-your-face aggressive game, but don't get injured playing that style (by forcing the opposition to match that style to keep up).

You can do the above a few times and win, but it's next to impossible to do it for weeks on end with the depth the Jets have. That's the reason for the up and down record, imo. ROR, Brouwer, and Horton (names that have been thrown around as possible acquisitions) would definitely help, but the cost may be too high to acquire them (Burmi, Trouba, etc). I firmly believe Trouba will have an very positive impact to the roster when he does arrive. Scheifele, too.

Coaches talk about getting contributions from others, when it's needed, well... Welly, Thorbs, Tangradi, Slater, Wright, Antro and Olli all have to give quite a bit more, at forward, if this team is going to go on a playoff run, imo. Ladd, Kane, Wheeler, Burmi and Little have definitely carried the team, and i'm not sure (other than maybe Kane) they can keep the pace they are currently on.

Losing Enstrom, Buff and Redmond for extended periods, moving forward, is another huge blow. I can't see Clitsome, Postma or Stuart being able to play at a level, consistently, they'll be asked to, for the next 30 games. It will be tough. Hainsey, too.

Next 10 games may say a lot.

Pretty much agree with the entire post. I have said this from the start of the year and prior to that .

This is a streaky team with streaky players. Some of them are showing signs of being less so and replacing that aspect with more and better consistency. That is a plus.

The d carried a lot of the offense early , that is ok , this team is designed at least partially to play that way , with injuries and a slow down , the lack of scoring from most of the forwards is limiting the wins though imo.

C scoring , lack of help from the 3rd and 4th lines , it all matters to the bottom line. It will be harder to improve the team from trades but saying that, if it is the right one I would expect Chevy to pull the trigger if that was available. We wait patiently ( some of us ) for picks like Scheifele , Trouba and Lowery to make the team and contribute enough to move the team from out of the playoffs to in , to deep playoff runs ...Chevy and Chipman always said they would pursue the right FA at the right time ... that should be fairly soon imo. In the meantime , IF we have real playoff hopes , the secondary players need to start contributing more .